Tragicomic journey through Italian newspapers, where the war in Ukraine does not exist
Twenty months after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine i Italian national newspapers they relegated the news coming from the bloodiest theater of war after the Second World War to small paragraphs, with very few insights and never any clear position on the conflict. but yet this war involves all of us Westerners even if we are not on the front line, but perhaps no one wants to wake us from our dreams.
It's a Sunday in September like any other, during the night Russia once again massively attacked the peaceful cities of Ukraine (including the capital Kyiv) with swarms of drones and missiles, the Ukrainian counter-offensive continues southwards to put Crimea within range of Himars after having broken through the first (very hard) and second Russian defensive lines and the USA accepted the sending of long-range ATACMS missiles to the Kyiv armed forces, a decisive moment for the fate of this war.
We have plenty of irons in the fire, let's see what (and how) the Italian newspapers talk about instead.
Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, something else to think about
Republic e Corriere della Sera they are undoubtedly the two most authoritative Italian national newspapers, they covered the first weeks of the invasion quite adequately with reports and insights from their correspondents, but what remains now is a miserable "live broadcast" in which often the tissue papers of the Kremlin press agencies and obviously Medvedev's daily outbursts about the nuclear apocalypse that the West is apparently causing with its support for Ukraine.
The fact that a national newspaper limits itself to transcribing these absurd press releases already says a lot about the quality with which the topic is treated.
The rest of the news from these "live broadcasts" are extracts copied from the major Ukrainian news sites (ukrainska pravda, Unian, Kyiv Independent). A useless press review that we can also see ourselves without the filter of Repubblica or Corriere.it
Having made this necessary premise on Repubblica we find on this Sunday the news coming from Ukraine as tenth news, under the usual roundup of local news, political gossip on Prime Minister Meloni who very coldly shook hands with EU Commissioner Gentiloni at the G20 and on yet another chapter on the national airline, ITA, which since the world was created has always on the verge of bankruptcy or about to be sold to Lufthansa.
It should be noted that among the short flashes within their "live" broadcast on Ukraine, a video automatically starts on Lavrov's usual rants during the recent G20 in India.
Corriere della Sera on the other hand doesn't seem to even try, they also provide the same service as Repubblica.it with news that should be updated in real time on the progress of the conflict, but honestly we had a lot of difficulty finding it, when in the end the eye fell on a photo of the international criminal putin (for an in-depth article on the Crimean partisans) and a simple sentence “Ukraine-Russia: today's news”. Nothing more. The article could have at least had some relevance instead of being buried in the middle of the Homepage with a photo of the Russian president next to it, but we don't expect that much.
Among the news clearly highlighted on the Home Page on Corriere.it we find funny video of a bear rolling on ice and an article about a manager from the Puglia Region who, during his 50th birthday party, allegedly provided his bank details to his 800 (!!!) guests to make their lives easier with gifts.
But there are only very few dry words about war and Ukraine. The Home Page of a national newspaper website is not just a jumble of more or less tabloid articles, but defines the editorial line of the publication itself. And this, for us, also applies in this case.
If we were to find out only from Italian newspapers, we would not know if there is a counter-offensive underway (the little news of which is always statements from some unspecified US or UK official who consider it too slow), what the advances of the Ukrainian troops are or what It is now a habit that in Russia, also and above all in Moscow, there are drone attacks, fires and devastation almost every day.
All we need is for them to start calling this war a "special military operation", but we don't want to give you too much hope on this point.
Even Ansa on Ukraine has given up on it
Also Ansa.it, the portal of the press agency of the same name seems to have given up on reporting on the war in Ukraine. We find a two-line statement from the head of the Kyiv 007 Budanov in a tiny sidebar, without any further information and without any other accompanying news. Nothing at all.
To find the news about Ukraine on Ansa.it we had to use the browser's "Search" function, otherwise we would never, ever have noticed it.
Not just bad news: Linkiesta, a drop in the ocean of non-information
However, in the Italian press there are also virtuous examples and the most brilliant is undoubtedly the in-depth online newspaper Linkiesta by director Christian Rocca. Throughout the war he has never lacked information on this war, maintaining a clear and coherent editorial line, explaining its reasons in an always exhaustive way and without too many frills.
Also on this Sunday in September the opening is dedicated to an editorial on Russian propaganda and on the veterans of Mariupol, witnesses of the barbarity of the army of the international criminal putin, an authentic and strong voice on what has happened and is still happening on Ukrainian soil and which in Italy, at a media level, we try to ignore.
Desolate situation
This situation is not due to the fact that it is a weekend day (the war does not go on holiday) but is the reflection of information that is truly at the lowest levels and with very different priorities compared to those one would expect from non-scandal publications . And it's not even a Sunday of the Serie A championship, otherwise those little bits of news would be buried under tons of sports news.
The real danger is that without serious and aware information on the importance of the war in Ukraine, which, we repeat, also involves all of us, the foundations are being laid for the mystification of the facts that have happened and are happening every day in Ukraine, with the related geopolitical repercussions that will influence the world to come.
A "non-information" as is happening in Italy by national newspapers it opens the doors to Russian propaganda who screams, screams and screams louder than the others, where the attacked becomes the aggressor, where the victim "asked for it" (when he does not directly turn into an executioner), where Ukraine is considered a burden for the entire West, the war is a nuisance and the fallen defenders will simply have died for nothing in a small and insignificant regional conflict.
